The2ndDoctor's blog

The BBC has announced that Hugh Bonnerville has been cast as a pirate captain for Series 6 in the spring.

Hugh says, "When I was a boy THAT music had me peeking out from behind the sofa every Saturday night... although the pirate's fears and demons are different to those of the young lad who watched through his fingers, they are no less terrifying; this new adventure is not for the faint-hearted."

As reported in Wired magazine the restoration of Ambassadors of Death has gotten a boost due to a new editing computer.

"Their method is a refined version of that trialled on the 2009 Planet of the Daleks re-release; it is now being deployed on a seven-part 1970 Jon Pertwee adventure, The Ambassadors of Death. "It seemed almost recordings, they didn't filter off the colour carrier [encoded as a 'chroma dot' pattern in each frame], which for the last few decades has been nothing more than an annoyance." Team member Richard Russell used the signal to reverse-engineer raw colour pictures that could be retouched frame by frame. "It's very, very labour intensive -- several hundred man hours' work every episode," says Steve Roberts. Luckily, a new "quadrant editor" is helping them to produce better source material upfront, so they hope to deliver the Ambassadors episodes to the BBC within weeks."

BBC Worldwide have announced a Classic DVD Doctor Who Channel, to come today.

BBC Worldwide have announced a Classic DVD Doctor Who Channel, to come today.

The Idea is that snippets and trailers are to be released on a regular basis, the official line is this:

"BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, will be launching a Classic Doctor Who channel on YouTube on 4th January.

The new channel, featuring a mixture of classic clips and exclusive previews from forthcoming Doctor Who DVD releases, will appeal to existing fans and give new viewers an opportunity to sample some classic Doctor Who. The channel will complement the Classic Doctor Who Twitter account @classicdw run by 2entertain.

The official blurb reads as such, "So you've learnt to fly the TARDIS and defeat the Cybermen and Daleks. But how will you fare against the fearsome Vashta Nerada? In an underwater base. While being attacked by alien sea monsters. Do you think you're ready?